Sinner: “I’m not unbeatable, I’m just well-prepared”

This is new territory for Jannik Sinner. The Italian is now a Grand Slam champion and having extended his unbeaten start to 2024 to 13 matches by winning his opener in Indian Wells on Friday, he knows he is now the hunted, a player everyone wants a crack at.

“For sure I am in a different position now than I used to be,” Sinner told reporters in Indian Wells on Friday. “But I take it as a positive, no? It means that I’m doing great on the court, and so we see what I’m also capable of this site now. It’s for me honour to be in this position and then hopefully I can show some good tennis.”

The newly-crowned Australian Open champion, who also won in Rotterdam two weeks later, beat Thanasi Kokkinakis 6-3, 6-0 to open his campaign at the BNP Paribas Open in Indian Wells.

It was a clinical, confident performance from Sinner and even though Kokkinakis played superbly at times, he was well-beaten. The Italian might be ranked No 3 but right now, he is looking every inch the best player on the planet and looks nigh unbeatable, not that he will admit as much.

“No, I’m not unbeatable, I’m just well-prepared,” said Sinner, with typical modesty and honesty. “I worked really hard to be in this position. Obviously it’s a position you dream of because winning a Grand Slam, that’s I think everyone’s dream, but in the other way, you know, you travel here, the conditions are different and then you have to find a way somehow.

“We came here earlier trying to prepare it. I felt better day after day. As we saw today it can be breezy, and then it stops. You know, you have to see the situation and then try to be ready.”

“You can feel bad one day and be out of the tournament”

Sinner said he’s trying not to think about his winning streak too much, even if he’s reminded of it in every press conference.

“For sure you have confidence,” Sinner said. “But in the other way, it can go fast to go in the wrong way. I just try to keep it as long as possible. Maybe it’s over in two days; maybe not. We cannot predict the future. “This sport, it’s unpredictable. You can feel bad one day and you’re out of the tournament. So it can be really fast.

“As I always say, we live in the present moment. Tomorrow I have one day off or I play doubles and then trying to prepare for the next singles match. The opponents, they know me much better now, so I have to be prepared. I think that’s also an exciting part where what I live in.”

Sinner plays the No 25 seed Jan-Lennard Struff in the third round.

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